Rinse cut potatoes to remove excess starch before cooking fries
After cutting potatoes into fry shapes, rinse them to wash off surface starch for better crisping.
Cut potatoes into chip shapes, then rinse them under water to remove excess starch before cooking.
The short version
- Rinse after cutting to remove surface starch
What goes wrong
Skipping the rinse and ending up with less-crispy fries
Rinse the cut potatoes to remove excess starch
Why it works
Surface starch can turn gummy and inhibit crisping; rinsing reduces that layer so fries crisp more evenly.
Put it to use
Learn next
Squeeze bananas in the peel to make them easier to mash
Before peeling, gently squeeze bananas through the skin to soften them so they mash faster and more evenly.
Crush Weetabix with milk to make a no-cook breakfast base
Break up Weetabix and mix with milk to form a soft base for layered overnight breakfast pots.
Use a hotter final oven blast to crisp fries after baking
If baking instead of air frying, finish with a short higher-temperature step to crisp them up.
Shake air-fryer fries partway through to cook and crisp evenly
Give the basket a shake during cooking so fries brown more evenly.